The effect of sexist toys on girls

At very early ages, pigeonholing girls into "feminine" toys can be detrimental.

For millennia, societies have made boys and girls, those members of humanity who belong to the new generations, clear about their gender from the earliest years of life. This, among other things, is done through play styles and toys..

For example, until the middle of the 20th century, most toys indicated on their boxes for which of the two sexes the product was indicated, something that changed with the arrival of the second and third wave feminisms, between the 1970s and the 1990s. Today, however, toys continue to be strongly gendered. It is natural to associate action figures with boys and kitchen sets with girls, for example.for example.

But... does this make toys sexist? Could the existence of this role distinction cause inequality to emerge? There are now good reasons to believe that sexist toys do exist sexist toys do exist, and that they prey especially on girls..

Sexist toys and gender bias

The type of toys used by boys and girls does not obey a causal differentiation. In the vast majority of cases, these toys are a reflection of stereotypes and stereotypes of gender. are a reflection of gender stereotypes.. For example, girls are given games that deal with baby care, the importance of aesthetics and personal image, or household chores, while boys are given action figures and games that have to do with dealing with imaginary situations that, if real, would be scary, violent or disgusting. Now then... Is this because there is a genetic predisposition to be of a certain sex to be attracted to certain games and not others, or is it all due to the effect of culture, what society teaches us during childhood?

From what has been seen, there is evidence that part of these preferences for gender-stereotypically loaded toys is due to biological, not cultural, factors. For example, it has been found that young children between one and two years of age, a time when they are not yet socialized in groups, already prefer toys that are associated with their gender. In addition, in cases of some diseases that alter the hormonal levels of girls, making them more "masculine", their toy preferences also shift more towards the masculine.

However, these differences between boys and girls these differences between boys and girls do not necessarily have to be very profound..

The influence of the environment

It should be borne in mind that most experiments exploring the reaction of children to toys that do not correspond to their gender work with specific toys with specific properties. In these situations, the effects of hormonal differences, which are wide-ranging, may appear to be very specific, and falsely reinforce overly rigid gender roles.

For example, the fact that boys prefer to play with action figures does not mean that they are attracted to that category of entertainment we call "action toys. that category of entertainment that we call "action figures", but rather that there is something about these objects.Rather, there is something about these objects that they find interesting. The possibility of fantasizing about risky situations is one of them.

But violent situations (those to which we usually associate play with action figures) are not the only ones in which risks are taken and excitement is felt in the face of danger. In fact, it is perfectly possible that many of them are not associated with masculinity.

On the other hand, it has been found that men are generally slightly better than women at tasks involving spatial processing. in tasks involving spatial processingand this is also noticeable in the use of toys. Boys tend to prefer more elaborate puzzles than those played by girls, and these toys have to do with cognitive skills related to spatial thinking.

However, it has also been found that fathers and mothers encourage boys more when they play these kinds of games, and less so when little girls do. It may seem unimportant, but if this social asymmetry happens at such an early age, it can leave a mark on mental development, it can leave a mark on people's mental development..

We see then, that although there seem to be hormonal differences that influence the preference for toys depending on the sex to which one belongs, this is interpreted as if it was the gender load of these games, and not the situations to which they give rise, which make them tend to entertain themselves with some things and they do it with others.

Girls are left at a disadvantage

How does this affect girls? Basically, it reinforces strongly implanted gender roles that put women at a disadvantage. For example, many of the best paid professions are closely related to spatial reasoning, and if boys are more encouraged to play with toys that promote this skill, they will have an advantage when it comes to copying, they will have an advantage when it comes to filling engineering jobs..

On the other hand, if it is assumed that since boys have a predilection for action figures, women should be assigned to the "safe" domestic sphere, their existence will be more similar to that of a pet than that of a person with the capacity to be independent.

In short, the effect that sexist toys have on girls is the power to pigeonhole them into roles that have been created by society and that are given a priori: it is enough to coincide with certain characteristics related to this type of role, for it to be taken for granted that the whole personality of that girl (future woman) can be summarized by "the feminine". can be summarized by "the feminine".. The consequences of this is, in short, more sexism and more possibilities for more girls to be pigeonholed in that lifestyle.